The Thirteenth Doctor #8

'Where's the Doctor?' (2018) from Doctor Who The Official Annual 2019.

Another story here which doesn't seem to be on Tardis Guide as of yet, and that's unfortunate as it's quite a good one. Mainly because it canonises Queen Elizabeth II as being a great big lizard - aside from that it's more of a collage of all of The Doctor's incarnations all being present for her coronation. Not really much of a focus on Thirteen.

The Thirteenth Doctor #9

'The Rhino of Twenty-Three Strand Street' (2018) from Twelve Angels Weeping.

A nice little story focusing on a young girl in Dublin who comes across a "rhino" hiding in a hologram-protected neighbour's house. Works well as a character study for her and seems to come from a very truthful place, personally relating with me with its seemingly autistic representation. I wish The Doctor was in it more, which I could say about a few of her EU stories so far unfortunately, but her brief appearance towards the end is cute.

Set just before the Time War, this story focuses on the General in a big confrontation with the Doctor, Davros and the Nightmare Child. While the writing style is solid, I feel like it could have used a little work thematically. In this story, the Nightmare child is basically a Dalek that does not hold any reverence for the Dalek race. This makes it manifest as a giant, computerized octopus. I don’t feel like those 2 parts necessarily fit together. Aside from that, both the Doctor and Davros have very abstract motivations that don’t really feel natural. Still, the story is fantastic in scope and it paints a great picture as we see the universe through the eyes of a Time Lord.  It is far from irredeemable. Just not as special as you’d hope.